An aid worker diary from Darfur, Sudan: real stories, random observations and occasional rants on the lives of Darfur’s two million displaced people and the somewhat bewildered humanitarian agencies who are trying to help them.
Sleepless in Sudan is just another website on just another violent conflict in Africa – but uncensored, direct and without the sugar-coating that the tightly controlled and highly politicized environment demands from the official sources.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

I'm finding it a bit ironic these days that the start of the peace talks in Abuja has done little more than destabilise Darfur even further over the past week.

Following a huge increase of attacks against humanitarian agencies over the last month, Darfur is now being shaken up by fresh clashes between government forces, Janjaweed militia and rebel groups.

The losers - as always - are the civilians: displaced families is Sheiria camp had to scramble for cover earlier this week as government soldiers and SLA rebels exchanged heavy gunfire, while international NGOs operating in the area were left with no option but to evacuate.

Other skirmishes and shoot-outs around the fringes of the Jebel Mara mountain range and in the area between Nyala and El Fasher (the state capitals of South and North Darfur) have sent families running for their lives again - it is tragic to see that even after two years of conflict we are still witnessing fresh displacement and horrific stories of burning villages, killings and rape.

As another long work week in Darfur draws to a close, I vow to lock myself into my little room for at least the next 24 hrs and pretend that by the time I come back out some magical force will have allowed the good and hopeful developments that I occasionally witness in this place to catch up with all these miserable ones.